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Tuesday, 30 August 2011

The other day, I decided to have a flower-making day. I wanted to try out some ideas using some of the newer punches I've got. And to make them a bit more interesting, I first prepared some card coloured with distress inks. (Thanks, Jack, for the tip to dry each colour separately - it definitely worked better that way.)

Some of the flowers looked great, but there's no way I could use them on a card - they'd be much too big - but I've put them away for boxes and such. But some others were fine, so I made a card to show them off.

Since I had the distress inks out, I decided to have a go at watercolouring with them. (Well, the brown is actually Momento ink because I don't have a brown DI.) I'm not sure how well it'd have gone if I'd had very specific colours in mind - or if I'd been doing a flesh tone - but I was happy enough with the result. The image is one I was lucky enough to win from Digi Doodles recently. I printed it on watercolour paper. (If any of you are lucky enough to have a Clas Ohlsen near you, check out their art supplies - the watercolour paper I used is from them and it's light enough to go through my printer with ease.)

The flowers used a mixture of a Martha Stewart cornflower punch and various sun punches, and all colour is distress ink.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

I haven't been around much lately. Although I've been at home, I'm anxiously awaiting various paperwork from banks so I can get my mums accounts submitted and things handed over to the solicitor. And the banks keep making mistakes and taking forever to correct them. It's looking like I might not get it all finished in time for going back to school in a couple of weeks which is crazy.

What with hanging around, waiting for the postman, and generally fretting about things, I haven't done a lot of cardmaking. I've taken leave from OSAAT because I'm just not reliable at the moment, and Crafty Cardmakers/Spotlight is taking a break because so many DT members just needed some time away for various reasons. Still, I make cards as a recreation, so the other day, while I was frustrated at yet another mistake in the figures I was sent, I decided to calm myself with a little watercolouring.

A while ago, I tried out my Aquamarkers and wasn't that impressed, but I stuck with them, and having found a better watercolour paper, I'm getting better results. (I've still got concerns about some colours specifically which seem to sink into the paper instantly and defy all attempts to move the colour at all.) And, when I'm feeling a bit down, what better than to think about fairies and fantasy creatures?

(Entered into the following challenges: Die Cut Dreams where the theme is pink, green and coffee,

Both Ching Chou Kuik images, of course. The top card uses some of those gorgeous MME papers from a magazine. In the case of the second, I coloured as I wanted to, and then found I didn't have any paper to match. so, I got out some yellow card, tapestry stamps and distress Inks. I've also used a Martha Stewart border punch on that one.

The flowers in both are made using a Martha Stewart cornflower punch and card coloured with Aquamarkers and Twinkling H2Os.

(Entered into the following challenges: Cards for Men where 'anything goes',

This one is quite different. I love my Blossom Kaleidacolor ink pad - so much so that I've been wanting to get a few more. I finally ordered a couple - Autumn Leaves and Berry Blaze. I've got to say, I'm not as impressed with the colours on these. The thing I love about the blossom one is that the colours blend to give other colours which are very different to those in the pad while all the shades work beautifully together. With these two newer pads, the colours do work well together, but you only seem to get the basic five shades you started with. Still, Craft Stamper had a lovely leaf stamp recently, so I stamped it with the Autumn Leaves pad, using various combinations of the colours. The background uses the same pad, with the colours added to a non-stick sheet and 'smooshed' with some water.

(Entered into the following challenges: Bunny Zoe where they want Easel cards,

And finally, a card for my sister and her partner. They got the keys to a new house just a few days after Mum died. It needed quite a lot of work, so they didn't move in right away, and instead pulled the place apart. They're due to finally move in in a couple of weeks.

The image is a Dover Books sample I've had for a while. It's actually a colouring page, but meant to be much bigger. Shrinking it to card-sized made it a bit fiddly to colour, but I was happy with the result, using Promarkers. The paper is from Papermania, and the sentiment is computer generated.

Sunday, 14 August 2011

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we're challenging you to show us your style - it's anything goes!

I decided to take advantage to get another Christmas card done, and I was lucky enough to be working with a really sweet image from Delicious Doodles called Frosty the Snowman.

I generated the frame and greeting in Photoshop Elements, added the image, and then coloured the sky, adding some snowflakes. After printing, I coloured the image and added some glitter. The paper is from my stash, and the ribbon was from a Hobbycraft bargain bin a while ago!

I hope you can join us this week.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:Craft Us Crazy where anything goes,

Monday, 8 August 2011

An actual, live, non-scheduled post! I'm home just now, but still waiting for various instiitutions to send me things (and correct mistakes they've made) before I can head north again. I'm not really feeling inspired to make cards, but I did take some images with me when we went up a couple of weeks ago, and I coloured them, so I thought I should really make up some cards. Some of the images were on my hard drive anyway, and some were kindly given to me by Stitchy at Stitchy Bear Stamps when I thought I was going to be in Scotland for a protracted time this summer.

The image is from Delicious Doodles, and it's coloured with Promarkers with added detail in Sakura Startdust pen.

This image is from Becky Muir and it's coloured with Coloursoft Pencils blended with Baby Oil.
I'd like to enter this card into the following challenge:Stampin' with the Dragon where the theme is 'red, green and white'.
I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

This image is from Pixie Dust and it's a freebie from a while ago - coloured with Promarkers, and with snowflakes die cut with my new Marianne Creatable dies.

I'd like to enter this Aud Sentiments where the theme is to have 'Merry Christmas' on your card,Pixie Dust where 'anything goes with a Pixie Dust image.

This is one of 'my' new Stitchy images, called 'Wishing you Well' and I liked the title, so I used it too! Again, coloured with Promarkers.

Another of my new Stitchy Images, and again, I've stolen the title for my card! This one is also coloured with Promarkers. I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges: Ooh La La where they theme is 'Christmas',

Sunday, 7 August 2011

This week at One Stitch at a Time, we want you to use a digi! That's it - use something digital. And we're sponsored by

This week, I've been doubly lucky - because, not only did I get to use some lovely die cuts from our sponsor, I also got to play with some gorgeous Christmas papers from Panda Bear Designs - Winter Nights 1.

I wanted to use the three die cut 'scenes' in a single project, so I made a Chrismas book - a mini Christmas story.

I've used six out of the seven papers in the set - and combined them digitally to make the pages, adding the words of some traditional Christmas carols to match the die cuts. The two stars are part of the die cut set, and I coated them in Versamark ink and then brushed on some Perfect Pearl in gold.

I finished the book by stitching the various pages together and then added some gold ribbon and a bow.

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25 March 2011

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June 2010

About this Blog

I'm a cardmaker who's been into crafty things most of my adult life. It used to be knitting and stitching of various varieties (tapestry, cross stitch, hardanger and blackwork) but these days it's pretty much paper-based. I'm enjoying being part of the craft community here on Blogger, and have already learned a lot from everyone. Here you'll see the results of my efforts. Comments are welcome and appreciated.